Alerts

2013

Bogotá, January 10, 2013--Venezuelan authorities
announced late Wednesday that they had launched an investigation against a
private TV station that had aired reports questioning the legality of
postponing the inauguration of President Hugo Chávez. The Committee to Protect
Journalists calls on the government to immediately drop this politicized investigation
and to end its persistent harassment of Globovisión, the country's only TV
station critical of the government.

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New York, January 10, 2013--At least two journalists
were killed and two others seriously injured when a bomb went off near a
billiards hall in Quetta, capital of Pakistan's restive Baluchistan province, as
the journalists were reporting on an explosion that was set off there just minutes
earlier, according to local journalists and news
reports. Dozens of other people were reported killed in the
double bombing, for which the militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed
responsibility.

Bangkok, January 9, 2013--At least five independent bloggers
were sentenced today to harsh jail terms in Vietnam, according to local and
international news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns this
move and calls on Vietnamese authorities to reverse the charges on appeal and
release the bloggers.

New York, January 9, 2013--A Kuwaiti court sentenced an online journalist to prison on Monday for insulting the ruling family on social media, according to news reports. Ayyad al-Harbi was ordered to begin serving the two-year jail sentence immediately, news reports said.

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New York, January 9, 2013--Authorities in the Democratic
Republic of Congo should bring to account soldiers involved in a raid on a
radio station in the eastern town of Kabambare, and the arbitrary detention and
beating of two of the station's journalists, the Committee to Protect
Journalists said today.

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New
York, January 9, 2013--Bahraini authorities should drop charges they have filed
against a photojournalist in connection with his coverage of anti-government
protests in April, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Abuja, Nigeria, January 9, 2013--Gambian authorities
should immediately release Abdoulie John, a journalist who has been detained without
charge in Banjul since Monday, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
John has been harassed by the Gambian National Intelligence Agency since early
December, news reports said.

John, editor of the online news website Jollof
Newsand a contributor to The Associated Press, was summoned for
questioning at the headquarters of the NIA at around 2 p.m. on Monday, Lamin
Jahateh, a representative of the Gambia Press Union, who was with John at the
time, told CPJ. John was questioned for about three hours, he said. Emil Touray,
president of the union, told CPJ that the agents took John to his home where
they conducted a search, before returning him to custody.

New
York, January 8, 2013--Nepalese Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai today publicly criticized
the arrest of five of his party members who stand accused of the 2004 murder of
radio journalist Dekendra Raj Thapa, according to news reports. The Committee
to Protect Journalists welcomes the arrests and calls on the prime minister to allow
due process to take its course.

Nairobi, January 8,
2013--An appeals court in Burundi today dropped terrorism charges against
jailed journalist Hassan Ruvakuki and reduced his sentence from life to three
years in prison, according to local journalists and news reports.